Sambar is a flavorful spicy South Indian lentil soup made with a variety of vegetables. It fits nicely with many South Indian meals, including dosas (pancakes), idlis (savory cakes), and rice. It could be said that a South Indian meal is incomplete without sambar.

Hi Manjula!just few words to thank you for your website and these delicious recipes, I’m not Indian and before to find your website I thought Indian recipes are too difficult for me, Alhamdulillah I found out this beautiful website and whatever I’ve tried it has always been successful (I’ve already tried your chickpeas rice, masala zucchini, cucumber salad, sambar, masala tea, palak paneer) thank you so so so so much!!!!

Auntie Ji, thanks so much for all the kind work you do. The Sambar is exactly what I fell in love with at the Ashram. Just wonderful. So many more things to try, you have given me the tools to cook like I was born Indian. Again thanks so much Manjula, the hard work you do is beyond words.
GOD BLESS YOU MANJULA, MAY YOU DANCE IN KRISHNA’S LIGHT FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.

I have a Fagor pressure cooker that looks like the one you are using; it is the smaller 4 qt. size, and the other piece is an 8 qt.

My husband thinks it is a larger one; can you clear this up for me.

I am happy to see that you did not (or I did not see you do it on screen) oil the rubber gasket. I have been afraid not to oil it because the beans foam so much. But your beans seem to work fine. Can you tell me if you did oil the gasket.

Thank you so much for taking the time to create this wonderful website.

Can you recommend a good brand of Sambhar powder for this recipe? I have found a bewildering variety of different brands (MTR, Gits, MDH, Aachi, etc.) at the local Indian grocery store and would appreciate a suggestion of a top brand to choose.

For toor dal, it usually takes 30 to 40 mins covered at a med low heat. Turning the heat higher doesn’t really make it cook faster, it just makes it more likely it will boil over or foam up and make a mess.

Years ago, the preference was to use “oily” toor dal, I don’t really know why though my ex-husband (from Vijayawada) used to speculate that the oily dal was “cleaner” (less stones and dust). He didn’t really know either though. These days, I only use the “dry” toor dal. I don’t think I’ve seen “oily” toor dal for years, but should you come across both varieties, I’d suggest sticking with the dry toor dal. The difference will be obvious if you have them side by side.

I’m absolutely in love with your website !!!! I’ve just started to become a vegetarian and I was really struggling, I wasn’t real familiar with Indian cooking.You have helped me so much I love your recipes and the videos give me the confidence to try them!!! please keep doing this you have helped me so much, I truly thank you !

Hi Harvey
If using tamarind pods (Imli), take a walnut sized ball of it and soak it in hot water. The water should be just enough to cover the pods. Let it stand for 15 minutes. Now use your hand to crush and extract the juice. Pass through a sieve, pressing to get all the juice out. Use this in the recipes, as needed. Enjoy!

If you’re using tamarind concentrate like Tamcon instead of the whole tamarind, I usually use about half the tamarind concentrate as tamarind paste specified in the recipe. If it calls for “a walnut size piece” of tamarind, I’ll use 1 T plus 2 T of very hot water. If it calls for a “lemon size piece of tamarind”, I’ll use 2 T of the concentrate dissolved in 1/4 c of very hot water.

If you’re putting the tamarind in a dry curry, use the least amount of water to dissolve the concentrate. Store open Tamcon or other brands of tamarind concentrate in the fridge after opening.

Idli is a typical south indian break fast,..it best accomplishes with sambhar and chutney…
1)take a 250 ml glass for measurement..
2)soak 6 glasses of idli rice (variety name IR 20.,available in groceries ) and 1 glass of white urad dhall with 1 ts methi(fenu greek seed) seperatly for 3 hours,for 12 glass of rice, urad is only 13/4 glass .,not 2……
3) first grind urad with little water for 45 minutes in grinder……..it must be very spongy
4)then rice until it becomes very smooth, almost 1 hr……
5 )now mix both mixture with 3 ts salt in a vessel using hand which helps fermentation
6)after 6 hours it can be used to make idli
7) after 24 hours with lttle more water you can use the same to make dosa

Hello Manjula Aunty,
I read almost all your receipes and have tried a few as well. The ones that I have tried turned out good. I love your website. This is great!
Which brand of sambar powder do you use? There are quite a few out there. I have tried to make sambar in the past but it seems like something is missing. I will definitely try your recipe.

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I made channa masala again the other night. I've made it so many times, it's an old stand by. Everyone is always so excited when they smell the aroma. I'm planning on making a large batch, wrapping them up in flour tortillas and freezing them so the kids will have something healthy to...-Henrietta E.